Remember, Remember

Parliament, as you can see, not blown up. Although it was
under construction when we were there last.

So, I do a lot of British things, as a result of living in Scotland for a couple of years (where I basically adopted the things that I liked). And some of those things carry over to my writing, although my current British writing quirks are more the by-product of continuing to read the BBC news on a regular basis than they are from living there 10 years ago.

The biggest one, of course, is the spelling. I spell like a Brit. I get lots of comments on Facebook, and teasing from various family members, for spelling like a Brit. My uncle recently sent me a Tweet: "When in Rome, spell like the Romans do." I replied, "But I don't know Latin!"


In my own defence, I started spelling in British when I was quite young-- around nine or so-- because I got my hands on an old copy of On the Banks of Plum Creek that for some inexplicable reason was written in British. I asked my Mum about it, she explained that those were perfectly acceptable spellings (oops!), and I was hooked. And now, of course, I spend most of my time reading the likes of Terry Pratchett, Lynne Truss, J.K. Rowling, C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien... and the aforementioned Beeb. There is no chance whatsoever of me getting my spelling back to American. Even some of my textbooks this semester are in British, to which I have no objection.

Okay, long digression to say this: I knew about Guy Fawkes Night long before I moved to Britain. My parents, who did all they could to raise reasonably smart children (with a fair amount of success-- good job, Mum & Dad!) bought the complete set of the Childcraft Encyclopaedia before their eldest (me) was even able to read. One day, when I was about 7 or 8, I got bored and pulled one off the shelf. It didn't take me long to go through all 15 of them, one of which was called Holidays and Customs-- and that, my friends, is where I learned about Guy Fawkes Night. (Incidentally, the Childcraft books are just fantastic. If you have children, and especially children who like to read, I'd call them well worth the investment. They've gone through some changes since 1980, of course, but I'm betting they are still wonderful.)

So when I was finally able, in 1998, to personally go to a Guy Fawkes celebration, I was delighted. It was like a childhood dream come true. And it was lots of fun, too. I'm kind of surprised that Austin doesn't have some sort of Guy Fawkes event-- it seems like something that this wacky, weird, and very international city would do-- but all my internet searching has brought me nothing. I shall, therefore, remember, remember, the fifth of November in the privacy of my own apartment flat. (If I'm going to be British, I may as well do it completely, yes?)

What say you, my British and/or Commonwealth friends? Will you be celebrating today?